New Launch Date: August 5th
You often hear of games being delayed due to development issues. Well, we're ahead of schedule and will be ready to launch Dreamscaper one full week early on August 5th. Be sure to update your calendars!
New Price: $24.99 USD starting July 5th
We also wanted to take the opportunity to communicate that Dreamscaper's price will be increasing from $19.99 USD to $24.99 USD (or your regional equivalent) on July 5th. We feel very strongly, thanks to the feedback of our Early Access players over the last year, that we have substantially raised Dreamscaper's quality bar and packed it full of the content you'd expect from the most premium Action Roguelikes. This increase will help support both Dreamscaper's post-1.0 as well as Afterburner Studio's future titles.
Launch Discount
For those who were hoping to grab Dreamscaper at a discount before we leave Early Access, we have good news for you: we will launch on August 5th with a substantial launch discount. This means that, if you haven't already purchased Dreamscaper, we recommend you wait until August 5th to get the best deal between now and then.
Dreamscaper 1.0 - Massive Content Update
Now, without further ado, let's talk about our largest content update EVER that we are absolutely thrilled to share with you at Dreamscaper 1.0's launch. The focus of this update was to complete the Dreamscaper experience (fill the gaps in content & story) and add even more replayability for those of you who have already put dozens (if not hundreds) of hours into the game:
Increased Challenge (Dream Intensity)
Throughout Early Access, we spent a lot of time making Dreamscaper more accessible. As an increasing number of players have become more skilled at our combat, we identified the need to give those players a challenge. We have added "Dream Intensity" options to every run:
In what will be a very familiar design to Action Roguelike fans, players will be able to unlock the ability to opt-in to either Hard or Nightmare variants of a few different gameplay categories. These range from increasing overall damage dealt to Cassidy, to shaking up the configuration of enemies or the attack patterns of bosses. The higher Dream Intensity scores are not for the faint of heart, but player who succeed will be rewarded with new decorations for Cassidy's apartment as a testament to their skill.
New Biome: The Return
Throughout Early Access, the last two biomes of the game have been slight variations of each other. Now, each floor is given their own dedicated biome. This sixth and final biome is called "The Return":
Like the other biomes, it has its own set of randomly chosen encounters.
New Boss: Regret
One thing you will notice early into your run is that Isolation has been moved from the third biome (The Remembrance) to the second biome (The Renewal). Replacing Isolation's temporary spot is Regret:
What Regret lacks in size, it makes up for in cunning and agility.
New Boss: Resentment
Finally, there was one more remaining missing boss fight at the end of the fourth biome (The Descent). Rounding out our total number of epic boss fights to 6, we introduce Resentment:
Resentment is an absolute unit, but we believe you're all up for the challenge.
New Boss (Variant): True Loss
We don't want to give too much away, but there is now the ability to unlock a second phase of the final boss fight in our game.
New Enemies
Two new enemies will begin to spawn for those who decide to play on Nightmare Dream Intensities:
New Enemy: The Assassin
New Enemy: The Umbra Knight
Cassidy's Story (& Two Endings)
Many of you have asked about Cassidy's story. Throughout Early Access, you got to know the other residents of Redhaven, but Cassidy really only ever alluded to her own life & past. Now, defeating each Biome's boss will unlock very short vignettes that give a bit more insight into what Cassidy is going through. Additionally, beating Loss under certain conditions will finally give the true ending to Cassidy's story in Dreamscaper.
New HUD
Our HUD has used the same placeholder art for the last year, so thank you everyone for your patience. Over the last few months we have worked closely with UI artist Justine Raymond to overhaul our HUD with an aesthetic that more closely matches our dream style:
We've also changed our HUD so that less relevant elements will auto-hide when they're not in use.
New Languages
Thanks to your support throughout Early Access, we could afford to translate to 6 additional languages for our 1.0 launch:
- German
- French
- Italian
- Spanish
- Japanese
- Korean
We acknowledge that there was also demand for several other languages (Russian, Turkish, Portuguese, etc.), but there were budgetary constraints. We will continue to evaluate other languages depending on our 1.0 launch goes.
35 New Steam Achievements
We are increasing the total number of Steam Achievements from 10 to 45 at our 1.0 launch. We are also investigating Steam Trading Cards & Steam Points over the next month, as those are auxiliary features that actually don't require changes to the game itself.
7 New Music Tracks
Everything Dale North touches turns to gold, and these 7 new tracks are no exception. We are excited for the Dreamscaper Original Soundtrack to finally be complete. Thank you Dale!
Misc. Additions
Over the last few months we have primarily been releasing smaller Quality of Life updates you may have missed:
Catnap Update #1: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1040420/view/3002185996122745167
Catnap Update #2: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1040420/view/3073121495226000593
Final Stretch Update #1: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1040420/view/3035969334517234897
Therefore we are keeping this 1.0 list succinct for now, but here are the most notable additions that we have yet to release:
- Late-game Metagame Unlocks
- New Combat Challenges
- Camera and zooming has been overhauled to frame the action more closely.
- No more Impossible Challenges (ie Crystal Barrier & Parry X Times)
- Projectile & Beam Split Modifiers will now always keep an attack down the middle.
- Improved footstep Audio (level-specific surface types)
- Numerous other QoL Improvements
- Numerous Bug Fixes
- Numerous Balance Fixes
Future: Dreamscaper 1.1 Content Update
We hope that it's apparent how hard we've worked on our 1.0 launch. In addition to everything above, our small team of 3 also had to simultaneously port to the Nintendo Switch and navigate the business & marketing side of launching a game. That said, you may notice a lack of new items in this update.
The good news is that, thanks to you, Dreamscaper has already sold well enough in Early Access to warrant at least one free major content update in the form of Dreamscaper 1.1. While we don't have a specific date planned yet, it will add several new items, a new puzzle type, and of course it will include Quality of Life updates based on the feedback we receive from 1.0.
Between 1.0 and 1.1 we will also be releasing our standard hotfixes & minor patches to make sure urgent issues are addressed ASAP.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for joining us on this journey. It has been an honor to build Dreamscaper alongside all of you, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record: the game would simply not be at this level of quality without your feedback.
We look forward to delivering the "official" Dreamscaper 1.0 experience to all of you on August 5th!
Cheers,
Rob, Ian & Paul